Sierra de las Quijadas National Park

Information

It is a protected area of 73785 hectares located in the northwest of the province of San Luis, which preserves its nature, landscape and cultural richness. There you can get to know the mountain chain that bear the name of the park (Sierra de las Quijadas), which correspond to the Sierras Pampeanas and have a reddish coloured terrain.

The area has an arid climate. It is an excellent place to see fauna, from mammals such as foxes and guanacos, to lizards and a good number of birds.

How to get to the park:
- By car from the city of San Luis: take Colón Street, which becomes National Route 146 for about 4.5 kilometres and you will reach a roundabout, where you take Route 147, which after 111 kilometres will take you to the entrance of the park.
- By car from the city of San Juan: take the eastern access road that becomes National Route 20 for 193 kilometres, where you will intersect Route 147. Turn right onto this road, and after 9.5 kilometres you will reach the entrance to the park.
- If you don't have a car, you will have to rent a vehicle or hire a taxi or tour in the nearby towns or cities, since there is no public transport that goes regularly to the park.

From the entrance to the park you drive 500 metres on asphalt to the visitor's centre, where there is a car park, toilets and the park rangers provide information. From there, the way is a dirt road for about 6 km through which you can appreciate the unusual landscape and some geological forms (there are signs indicating what you can see). You arrive at a car park from where the different trails start.

There are short, low-difficulty trails that are self-guided, and others that require registration and/or an authorised guide (with prior reservation).

One thing to take into account is that in summer (December to March) there can be very hot days, and walking the trails can be exhausting as there is almost no shade at all.